Ian's Big Mistake
by Art-Over-Matter
Summary: Anthony and Ian's friendship is put to the test when Ian nearly ruins Anthony's relationship with Kalel. Kalel/Anthony. Rated K for coarse language.


"Hey babe, I'm home," Anthony called as he closed the door behind himself.

Strangely, he got no reply.

"Kalel?"

"I'm here, Anthony." It was Kalel, but her voice sounded different. She sounded tight and angry and…hurt.

Anthony walked into the living room, where Kalel was sitting at the dining room table. That was odd. Even when she was eating a meal, Kalel didn't often sit at the table.

"Babe? Are you okay?" Anthony asked, setting his stuff down by the wall and walking over to her.

Kalel stood up suddenly and turned to look at Anthony. Her beautiful dark gray eyes were sparkling as if she were holding back tears.

Anthony was starting to really worry.

"Anthony, there's something we need to talk about."

"Okay. As long as you tell me what's wrong." He wanted to go hug her to try to offer her some comfort, but he was starting to get the feeling that whatever she was upset about was partly his fault.

"You've been gone a lot lately," Kalel began, taking a deep breath. "And I feel like you haven't been telling me everything that's going on when you leave."

Anthony frowned. "I've been working on Smosh stuff a lot. If I could be here while I did that, I would."

"Just Smosh stuff? That's not the impression I had."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been going out with someone else, Anthony!" she burst out suddenly. "You've been fucking cheating on me!"

Anthony was so taken aback he couldn't even say anything. "I—what—no—you—"

"This isn't just something I heard. I saw you with her just the other day. You're not _that _subtle."

"Who?" Anthony demanded.

"That foreign girl," Kalel told him as if it should have been obvious. She was nearly crying now. "Her name's Mallory, isn't it?"

"What the fuck?" Anthony said. "I don't love Mallory! I haven't even known her that long!"

"That's not what Ian said! And right now, I'd believe his word over yours, you lying…" she almost didn't finish, but managed to choke out, "bastard."

"Kalel, no! No no no no. I haven't been cheating on you! I don't love her, I swear to God—"

Kalel was headed out the door. Anthony had never seen her so distraught. She grabbed her car keys and slammed the apartment door behind her.

Anthony stood in the middle of the room, shocked and confused, until he finally came to his senses and ran out the door to find Kalel. By the time he had gotten to where her car should've been parked, she was gone.

Ian's phone rang right in the middle of the television show he was watching. He muted the TV and picked up his phone to answer, seeing Anthony's name on the caller ID.

"Yo," Ian said. "Smosh ideas?"

Anthony sounded as if he hadn't even heard him. "Ian Andrew Hecox, what the fuck did you tell Kalel about me and Mallory?"

"Hold on—what?" Ian asked in bewilderment.

"Why would you make up some dumb-ass shit about us dating? When did you tell Kalel your fucking lie?"

Ian was momentarily speechless. He'd hardly ever heard Anthony so pissed off before. "I didn't—I never told her you were dating. I might have said something about...Why? What happened?"

"Said something about _what_?"

"I told her she _might _want to talk to you about Mallory because I thought you liked her. But Anthony—"

"Why do you think I like her?" Anthony demanded.

"You pretty much went on a fucking _date _with her, dude! It seemed obvious that you at least—"

"When? What—what, that one time we were trying to go somewhere with some of my friends and they didn't show up? That's a date, Ian?"

"I was just trying to he—" The phone beeped in his ear. Anthony had hung up.

"What the fuck?" Ian said to himself, staring at the silent commercial on his TV screen. He looked down at his phone and moaned. "You really fucked this one up, Ian."

Anthony practically threw his phone down on the couch as he paced. Why would Ian tell Kalel something like that? Why did Kalel believe him?

Mallory was a young half-French woman that he and Ian had met a few weeks before when they needed a sexy lady for a Smosh shoot. She'd been in Sacramento at the time, but she actually lived in LA, so Anthony and others involved in Smosh filming got to hang around her since she was interested in being a long-time part of Smosh production.

But Anthony didn't fucking love her.

He sat down on the couch, putting his head in his hands. He was really starting to worry now. Was this stupid-ass little misunderstanding going to ruin his entire relationship with Kalel? Would she believe him if he swore he didn't care about Mallory?

He took a deep breath and picked up his phone again.

Kalel couldn't stop her tears from flowing as she drove aimlessly around downtown LA. It was late and traffic was terrible, but she didn't care. She just had to get away.

Part of her couldn't believe that Anthony Padilla would cheat on her. He was so sweet most of the time and he told her he'd never leave her….

But she couldn't deny that she thought she'd seen a guilty look on Anthony's face as soon as she said that girl's name. And she saw no reason he would need to be away more often for Smosh.

Kalel's phone rang from the seat beside her. She hadn't intended on bringing it, but she must have left it in her car earlier that day. She stopped at a stoplight and picked it up to see who was calling. It would be nice to talk to Evelina or David or Joey right now. Someone who was acting normal.

It was Anthony.

She let out a sad little sob at the picture that showed up when he called. But she silenced it.

The call went to voicemail after Anthony waited for a few rings. He took a breath and then said, "Kalel, I don't know how to apologize for something I didn't do…I—I swear to you that I didn't ever cheat on you. I love you and I wish I didn't have to say this over the phone, so, uh….I know you'll have to come back to the apartment at some point and I'll—I'll be here if you're willing to…um…talk to me, but I won't get in your way. I'm sorry, babe. I love you." He shook his head and sent the voicemail.

His emotions and his logic were having a glorious battle inside of him; his emotions were sad and desperate, but his logic told him that Kalel wouldn't just leave him after something as small as this. He didn't know which side to listen to; he just hoped logic was right.

He sat and waited for almost half an hour before getting a call. He started to get excited before his heart sank when he realized the ringtone wasn't Kalel's. It was Ian's.

He reluctantly accepted the call.

"Anthony? You still pissed off, man?"

"Kind of," Anthony replied.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I don't—I wasn't thinking. What…happened with Kalel?"

Anthony sighed, resisting the temptation to just hang up. "She yelled at me and left. Drove away. I tried calling her, but all I got was voicemail. She hasn't called back or come home."

Ian was silent for a few seconds on the other end. "I really did actually think you liked Mallory. I guess I'm a douchepickle."

"Yeah," Anthony said quietly. "Because I don't."

"Maybe you should try talking to Kalel again? I don't think she'd just ditch you, dude. I never meant for her to get worked up about it."

"Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do, Hecox," Anthony snapped. He regretted it almost instantly.

"God dammit, Anthony, I'm sorry! I was trying to fucking help. I thought maybe it would be best if Kalel knew about it before she noticed and convinced herself you were dumping her. That way you would back off from Mallory and you and Kalel could talk about it in a civil manner. I only see Kalel about once a month; it's not like I can predict her. I didn't know what was going to happen. Give me a break, please, dude."

Anthony was silent for some time. "Okay. I shouldn't—I won't blame it on you. I just…really wish she'd call back."

"Yeah," Ian said, sounding relieved. "I'm sure she will, man."

Anthony was actually starting to believe him. "I agree. I think I'm gonna…I'm gonna hang up. I don't want to be in a call if she tries to talk to me."

"Okay. Sorry."

"Yeah."

"Bye."

They hung up and Anthony sat in silence, absentmindedly stroking Pip, who had jumped up on the couch and was stretching now, his front feet on Anthony's thigh.

Now he just had to see when Kalel was coming back.

Kalel was stopped at a parking lot when she finally decided to listen to Anthony's voicemail. She was on her way to her old apartment, but once she had considered what she was actually doing, she started to rethink it.

_Come on, Kalel. Do you really want to run away like this when Anthony said he had no idea what you were talking about? Even if he really had cheated on you, it seems like something he would fess up to._

So she stopped her car and took out her phone.

"_Kalel, I don't know how to apologize for something I didn't do…"_

She actually felt like crying again after listening to the last part of his message, "_I'm sorry, babe. I love you." _It was so sweet and so utterly Anthony that she had a hard time not believing him.

So, she decided to turn back and try to go talk to him. She fully accepted the possibility that everything she'd thought about Anthony cheating on her was mostly her own imagination. Of course, she also prepared herself for the chance that he actually _had _been dating the French girl.

But right now, she didn't believe it.

Kalel came home about forty-five minutes after she'd left.

"Anthony?"

"Kalel! You're back," Anthony said, sounding probably a little more delighted than he wanted to.

"I'm back," she echoed with a breathy laugh. "I listened to your voicemail…."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I wish I could have said it better—"

"No, whatever you did worked. I think—I believe you about how you haven't fucked anyone behind my back. I got…too worked up with the idea that you had, and I really did believe Ian when he suggested that you liked her. I should apologize."

Anthony hugged her right there. "You don't need to apologize, babe. You can judge me, that's okay, but I really wouldn't cheat on you. Ian completely misunderstood me."

Kalel laughed a bit as they stepped away from each other. "I kind of want to kill him right now."

"I did too. But he just didn't get it. Usually he can read me a little better than that, but this time he pretty much just fucked up."

"But Anthony, if you really do cheat on me, I will have your head." Kalel couldn't quite say it without smiling.

"I know," Anthony replied and he leaned down to kiss her.

The next day, Ian's phone rang at around 1:30 pm.

"Hey," he answered.

"Hi Ian," Anthony said from the other end. "I just thought I'd call because…well, because I was being a bit of an asshole yesterday."

"Mmhm," Ian said, smirking.

"Hey, shut up. I'm swallowing a lot of pride here," Anthony said, even though it really didn't sound like he was. "So yeah, I shouldn't have blamed you for what happened—even though it was your fault—because it really was just a misunderstanding."

"Yeah. I'm just sorry I even said anything in the first place. I didn't mean to fuck you over."

"It's okay now. We're all good. Kalel came back last night and we made up."

"Nicely avoided crisis," Ian said.

"Thanks," Anthony said, and Ian wasn't sure if it was facetious or not. "Anyway, I've got somewhere to be soon, but I just wanted to say sorry. Sorry I got so pissed at you yesterday."

"It's cool, man."

"But Ian."

"Yeah?"

"Don't spread rumors about my romantic life again. I have…a car. And you have a body. And I could run over you with aforementioned car. So yeah."

Ian couldn't help but laugh. "'Kay."

"See you later, dude."

"Yep." Ian smiled, shaking his head, and hung up. ●


End file.
